Method and system of playing casino two face blackjack type game

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to a method for playing a game in which game pieces are dealt by the dealer to one or more players. Hands are dealt to the players and the dealer. The dealer is dealt one card face up and one card face down, referred to as in the hole. If the dealer is dealt a face card face up, the dealer exposes the card in the hole thereby showing the faces of both cards. The interest in the game is improved since the dealer only shows the hole card with a face card up, as opposed to always showing the hole card. The player forms a final player hand and the dealer forms a final dealer hand according to the conventional rules of Blackjack. Optionally, the dealer acts according to a predetermined set of house rules.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to a method and system forconducting a Blackjack style game using playing cards or electronicsystems and in particular to a method and system for playing a two faceBlackjack type game in which anytime a dealer has a ten value card faceup the dealer exposes the card in the hole thereby showing the faces ofboth cards.

2. Description of Related Art

In conventional Blackjack or “21” a dealer deals two cards to playersand two cards to himself. The two cards to the players can be dealt faceup or face down. Conventionally, one of the dealer's cards are dealtface up and the other card is dealt face down, referred to as the “hole”card. The rules of conventional Blackjack are well known in the art anddescribed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,845,981.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,632,486 describes a method of playing a card game usinga card number subtracting technique in which cards of the playing deckare assigned numerical point values. Eights, nines and tens are removedfrom the standard deck to establish a deck of forty cards. Each numberedcard is assigned its point value. Each ace is assigned a value of one.Each face card is assigned a value of zero. Two cards are initiallydealt to each player with each player having the option of receiving athird card. If a third card is dealt, one of the cards is discarded. Thehands are compared to determine a winning hand as the hand in which thepoint value difference between the two cards in the hand is closest tozero.

It is desirable to provide a game for enhancing a player's interest andwagering options.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a method for playing a game in whichgame pieces are dealt by the dealer to one or more players. The gamepieces can be selected from a deck or decks of conventional cards. Inone embodiment, a modified deck or decks consisting essentially of fourcards each of Ace, deuce, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine,Jack, Queen, and King is used.

The present invention can be considered an improved method forconducting a card game according to the conventional rules of Blackjack,or a game such as Spanish Twenty-One which is based upon theconventional rules of Blackjack. In such an embodiment, the gameincludes the player making an initial game wager. Hands are dealt to theplayers and the dealer. The dealer is dealt one card face up and onecard face down, referred to as in the hole. If the dealer is dealt aface card face up, the dealer exposes the card in the hole therebyshowing the faces of both cards. The interest in the game is improvedsince the dealer only shows the hole card with a face card up, asopposed to always showing the hole card. It is most interesting toplayers to see the hole card after a dealer has been dealt a face card.The player forms a final player hand and the dealer forms a final dealerhand according to the conventional rules of Blackjack. Optionally, thedealer acts according to a predetermined set of house rules.

In one embodiment, the player has the option of surrendering the initialhand and receiving half of their wager back with the house collectingthe other half In an alternate embodiment, a player can have theadditional option of splitting or doubling down according to theconventional rules of Blackjack in forming the player's final hand orhands. For example, doubling down can be used with any hand sum or totalvalue of the cards of nine or higher. In one embodiment, if the playersplits or doubles down, the player places an additional split wager ordouble down wager up to the amount of the game wager.

A reward is issued to the player on the player's game wager if the finalplayer hand outranks the final dealer hand according to the conventionalrules of Blackjack. Conversely, the player's game wager is collected ifthe final dealer hand outranks the final player hand according to theconventional rules of Blackjack. For example, a Blackjack for the playershall pay even money or shall pay six to five odds. In one embodiment,the dealer hits on a soft seventeen.

The present invention may also be embodied in a device, such as a gamingmachine or general purpose computer executing software instructions.Such a device includes a data processor communicating with a display, aninput device, a wager receiver, and a data structure. The data structurestores data representing playing cards, optionally a modified deck ofplaying cards, a set of house rules, and instructions executable by thedata processor for conducting a game method.

The game method executed by the data processor includes receiving asignal from the wager receiver in response to receipt of a game wagerfrom the player. In response to these signals, an two cards are dealt tothe player to form an initial player hand and two cards are dealt dealerto form an initial dealer hand. The dealer is dealt one card face up andone card face down, referred to as in the hole. If the dealer is dealt aface card face up, the dealer exposes the card in the hole therebyshowing the faces of both cards.

If the initial player hand forms an automatic winning outcome, a rewardis issued to the player and play by the player is terminated. Otherwisethe player forms a final player hand by opting through the input deviceto receive additional cards or stand on the initial player hand. In oneembodiment, the player has the option to surrender the initial hand andreceive half of their wager back with the house collecting the otherhalf. In alternate embodiments, the player may have to option to splitor double down when forming the final player hand or, in the case of oneor more splits, final player hands.

The initial dealer hand is revealed at the display and a final dealerhand is formed according to the house rules. Wagers are resolved byissuing a reward to the player on the player's game wager if the finalplayer hand is closer to a predetermined target value than the finaldealer hand is or collecting the player's game wager if the final dealerhand is closer to a predetermined target value than the final playerhand is.

The invention will be more fully described by reference to the followingdrawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a flow diagram of a method of playing a game in accordancewith the teachings of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram of a method of playing a game with an alternateembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of a method of playing a game with an alternateembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a betting board in accordance with theteachings of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a device for playing a game inaccordance with the teachings of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Reference will now be made in greater detail to a preferred embodimentof the invention, an example of which is illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numerals will be usedthroughout the drawings and the description to refer to the same or likeparts.

FIG. 1 is a flow diagram of a method for playing a game 10. In block 11,each of the players of the game places a game wager. In block 12, eachof the players of the game are dealt game pieces. For example, the gamepieces can be from one or more conventional deck of cards or a subsetthereof which deck or decks of cards can be shuffled together. In oneembodiment, the cards having a ten value are removed from each of thedecks such that each deck includes 48 cards including four aces, fourtwos, four threes, four fours, four fives, four sixes, four sevens, foureights, four nines, four jacks, four queens and four kings. Face cardsare assigned a value of ten. In an alternate embodiment, four ten valuecards can be removed from each deck in which the ten value cards canalso include face cards. In a preferred embodiment, one or more initialcards are dealt to each player face up. For example, two initial cardscan be dealt to each player.

In block 14, game pieces are dealt to the dealer. In a preferredembodiment, two cards are dealt to the dealer in which the first card isdealt face down, referred to as the hole card and the second card isdealt face up. In an alternate embodiment, block 14 can be performedbefore block 12 such that one or more game pieces are dealt to thedealer first before game pieces are dealt to the players.

In block 16, the dealers hand is reviewed. When the dealer hand includesa card face up having a value of ten, for example if a face card isdealt to the dealer, the dealer turns the hole card face up to exposethe value of the hole card. In block 17, it is determined if thedealer's hand has an automatic winning holding. For example, if the gameplayed is Blackjack, the dealer automatically wins if the dealer'sinitial player hand is a natural twenty-one, i.e., a ten value card suchas a face card of a Jack, Queen or King in combination with an Ace. Thedealer having a natural twenty-one collects the game wager from eachplayer who does not also have a natural twenty-one and play by theplayers is terminated.

In block 18, it is determined if each players initial hand has anautomatic winning holding. For example, if the game played is Blackjack,the player automatically wins if the players initial player hand is anatural twenty-one, i.e., a ten value card such as face card of a Jack,Queen or King in combination with an Ace. The player obtaining anautomatically winning hand shall be rewarded according to wager rules,for example as described below. The player can be rewarded a payoutbased on the amount of the game wager. In one embodiment, a player dealta Blackjack is rewarded a payout of even money (1 to 1). Accordingly, ifa player made a game wager of 10 units, the player is rewarded 10 unitsupon being dealt a Blackjack. In an alternate embodiment, a player dealta Blackjack is rewarded a payout of six to five. In an alternateembodiment, Blackjack is rewarded a payout of three to two. Play isterminated for the player with the automatically winning hand. In oneembodiment, block 18 can be performed before block 17.

If the player does not have an automatically winning hand, the playerforms a final player hand by hitting, i.e., receiving additional playingcards, or standing, i.e., making final the cards held by the player atthat time, in block 19. In an embodiment of the invention, the goal ofthe game is to obtain a hand closer to a predetermined target value thanthe dealer's hand is. For example, in an embodiment in which the presentinvention is applied to a conventional Blackjack game, the goal for theplayer is to obtain a hand sum closer to twenty-one than the dealer'shand sum is, without exceeding twenty-one as described in U.S. Pat. No.7,549,642 hereby incorporated by reference into this application. If theplayer's hand exceeds a target sum, for example twenty-one, the playerbusts and the player's game wager is collected.

In block 20, after each of the players have formed a final hand, thedealer forms a final dealer hand by hitting, i.e., receiving additionalplaying cards, or standing, i.e., making final the cards held by thedealer at that time. In one embodiment, the dealer hits on a softseventeen, for example a value of seventeen with any combination of anace and a six. In block 21, each final player hand and the dealer finalhand is compared to a target value. The player is rewarded in block 22based on the player's game wager if the final player hand is closer tothe target value than the final dealer hand is. Similarly, the playermay be rewarded in block 22 if the dealer exceeded the target value andthe player did not. For example, in an optional embodiment applied toBlackjack, a player with a final player hand sum of 19 would be rewardedif the dealer had a final dealer hand sum of 18 or less, or 22 or more.Optionally, the player would push if the dealer and player have the samehand sum. The player's game wager would be collected in block 24 if thefinal dealer hand is closer to the target value than the final playerhand is. Thus, in the example above in which the final player hand sumis 19, a push occurs if the final dealer hand sum is 19 and the player'sgame wager would be collected if the final dealer hand sum is 20 or 21.

In one embodiment, the dealer is allowed to “push” on a total of 22 ormore, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,435,172, hereby incorporated byreference into this application. For example, the dealer can push on onedesignated total between 22-26.

In the event of a player win, the player is rewarded based on the gamewager. For example, if a player places a 10 unit game wager, a winningplayer hand results in a payout on the wager of 10 units. In oneembodiment, the payout is even money; thus, in the example, a winningplayer would be paid 10 units.

In an alternate embodiment, method for playing a game 30 various optionsare included for providing additional interest, as shown in FIG. 2. Inblock 31, when it is determined that the dealer does not have anautomatic winning hand, each of the players have the option ofsurrendering the initial cards which were dealt. In this option, aplayer surrendering the cards dealt will receive back half of the wagerplaced in block 11 and the house will collect the other half of thewager.

In block 33, before each of the final player hands are formed, a playerwill have the option of placing a double down wager on the initial cardsdealt, i.e., two cards, with any hand sum. In a double down, the playerplaces a double down wager less than or equal to the game wager. Forexample, in such an embodiment, assuming the game wager is 10 units, aplayer could place a double down wager of 10 or fewer units. In exchangefor such a double down wager, the player is dealt one, and only one,additional card.

In block 35, before each of the final player hands are formed a playerwill have the option of splitting the player's hand. Splitting involvesthe player holding a pair in his initial player hand placing anadditional split wager, in this case an amount up to the game wager, andplaying each of the cards of the pair as a separate hand. In an optionalembodiment, the player is required to place an additional split wagerequal to the game wager. For example, suppose a player who placed a gamewager of 10 units is dealt a pair of 8. If the player wishes wish tosplit the pair, the player places a split wager of 10 units and is thenallowed to use the first 8 and the second 8 as the bases for separatehands. In a further optional embodiment, the player may be permitted tore-split a player hand a limited number of times if the player againobtains a pair after a split. In a preferred embodiment, the player mayre-split twice for a total of four hands. Thereafter, blocks 20-24 (notshown) are preformed, as described above.

In an alternate embodiment, method for playing a game 40 various optionsare included for providing additional interest, as shown in FIG. 3. Inblock 43, before each of the final player hands are formed, a playerwill have the option of placing a double down wager on the initial cardsdealt, i.e. two cards, on any total value of the cards of the hand beingnine or higher. In a double down, the player places a double down wagerless than or equal to the game wager. For example, in such anembodiment, assuming the game wager is 10 units, a player could place adouble down wager of 10 or fewer units. In exchange for such a doubledown wager, the player is dealt one, and only one, additional card.

Betting can take place using betting board 100, as shown in FIG. 4.Betting board 100 can be a gaming table. Players can place game wagersin one of positions 101 a-101 n. A dealer places game pieces on bettingboard 100 in one of positions 102 a-102 n. In one embodiment, dealerboard 100 is mechanically and/or electronically activated.Alternatively, dealer board 100 can be a video display and game piecesare randomly selected and displayed on the video display. In oneembodiment, the game is played in a casino. Alternatively the game canbe played on a video machine or over the Internet.

The present method could also be applied to device 200 for conducting agame for a player, as shown in FIG. 5. As discussed above, in such anembodiment, the dealer may be live or represented by the game device. Itis further noted that the game device could be a specific use gamedevice, such as a video card machine, or could be a general purposecomputer programmed to conduct the present game.

Device according to the present invention includes data processor 202.Data processor 202 can take any form. Data processor 202 communicateswith a display 204, optionally through a display controller. Display 204could be any form including cathode ray tube (“CRT”), liquid crystaldisplay (“LCD”), plasma, or the like. Data processor 202 alsocommunicates with a wager receiver 208. Wager receiver 208 could be anymeans for receiving a wager or wager data. For example, wager receiver208 could receive coins; bills; tokens; encoded vouchers, tickets, orscript; account data, such as banking or credit card data; or any otherform of data or media representing a wager. Data processor 202 alsocommunicates with an input device 206. Input device 206 could includeany device usable by the player to input information or make selections,such as buttons, a keypad or keyboard, a touchscreen, or any other inputdevice.

Data structure 209 communicating with data processor 202 storeselectronic representations of playing cards (optionally with a full ormodified deck constitution as discussed above), a set of house rulesincluding pay outs, and instructions executable by the data processorfor conducting a game method, as described in a method for playing agame 10, 30 and 40. Data structure 202 could be any structure storingdata including any type of optical, magnetic, flash, electrical, orelectronic memory, in any form, such as random access memory (“RAM”),read-only memory (“ROM”), or any of the many variations thereon. It isalso noted that each of these elements, i.e., data processor 202, datastructure 209, display 204, input device 206, and wager receiver 208,need not be physically proximate but may be remote from one another and,in such an embodiment, could communicate via computer network, telephoneline, wireless communication, or the like.

Referring to FIGS. 1-3 and 5, in conducting the game method, dataprocessor 202 receives a signal from wager receiver 208 indicating theplacing of a game wager by the player, in block 11. In response to thissignal, data processor 202 randomly selects and “deals” an initialplayer hand and an initial dealer hand for the dealer or assigns thecards to the appropriate hand as described in blocks 12 and 14. Thecards of the initial player hand are exposed at the display 204 as isoptionally one card of the initial dealer hand. Block 16 is performed bydata processor 202, such that if the dealer hand has a face card up thehole card will be displayed at display 204. Block 17 is performed bydata processor 202 to determine if the dealer has an automatic winninghand, in the case of Blackjack such a hand would be a naturaltwenty-one, the player's game wager is collected and play by the playeris terminated. Block 18 is performed by data processor 202 to determineif the player has an automatic wining hand and if the player has anautomatically winning hand, the player is rewarded, optionally at evenmoney or at 6 to 5, and play by the player is terminated. Otherwise,blocks 18-21 are performed by data processor 202, and a final playerhand is formed by inputting the player's selection to hit or standthrough the input device 206. In one embodiment, the player mayadditionally have the option to split or double down in one or more ofblocks 33-35 and 43 by placing at the wager receiver 208 a wager equal,or less than or equal, respectively, to the game wager. The final dealerhand is formed by data processor 202 according to the stored houserules. The final dealer hand and final player hand are compared in block21 by data processor 202 to the predetermined target value, twenty-onein the case of Blackjack, and the player is rewarded in block 22performed by data processor 202 on his game wager if the player's handsum is closer to the target than the dealer's hand sum is, or if thedealer busts. Conversely, if the dealer's hand sum is closer to thetarget than the player's hand sum is, in block 24 performed by dataprocessor 202 or, as discussed above, the player busts, the player loseshis game wager.

It is to be understood that the above-described embodiments areillustrative of only a few of the many possible specific embodiments,which can represent applications of the principles of the invention.Numerous and varied other arrangements can be readily devised inaccordance with these principles by those skilled in the art withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the invention.

1. A method for playing a game comprising the steps of: one or moreplayers making a game wager, dealing two cards to form an initial playerhand to each of the one or more players; dealing a first card to adealer and a second card to a dealer to form an initial dealer hand, oneof the first card or the second card dealt to the dealer being placedface up and the other of the first card or the second card dealt to thedealer being placed face down, reviewing the dealer's hand and if a faceup card of the dealer's hand has a value of ten, exposing the value ofthe face down card of the dealer's hand; forming a final player hand bydealing at least one additional card to said initial player hand orstanding on said initial player hand according to said conventionalrules of Blackjack; forming a final dealer hand by dealing at least oneadditional card to said initial dealer hand or standing on said initialdealer hand according to said conventional rules of Blackjack; andissuing a reward to said player on the player's game wager if the finalplayer hand outranks the final dealer hand according to saidconventional rules of Blackjack and collecting the player's game wagerif the final dealer hand outranks the final player hand according tosaid conventional rules of Blackjack.
 2. The method of claim 1 wherein amodified deck of forty-eight playing cards is used, said modified deckconsisting essentially of four cards each of Ace, deuce, three, four,five, six, seven, eight, nine, Jack, Queen, and King and the face downcard of the dealer's hand is exposed if the face up card the dealer isdealt is the Jack, Queen or King.
 3. The method of claim 1 furthercomprising: said one or more players opting to surrender cards whichwere dealt, said one or more players receiving back half or the gamewager and a house receiving the other half of the game wager.
 4. Themethod of claim 1 further comprising: said one or more players opting toplace a double down wager after said initial player hand is dealt withtwo cards on any hand sum of the cards dealt, said double down wagerequal to or less than the game wager.
 5. The method of claim 1 furthercomprising: said one or more players opting to place a double down wagerafter said initial player hand is dealt after said initial player handis dealt with two cards on any total value of the cards dealt of nine orhigher, said double down wager equal to or less than the game wager. 6.The method of claim 1 further comprising: said one or more playersopting to place a split wager equal to the game wager and split saidinitial player hand into separate player hands if said initial playerhand forms a pair.
 7. The method of claim 6 further comprising saidplayer opting to place a double down wager less than or equal to thegame wager after said initial player hand is dealt and receive only oneadditional playing card.
 8. The method of claim 1 wherein the game isplayed in a casino.
 9. The method of claim 1 wherein the game is playedon a video machine.
 10. The method of claim 1 further comprisingoperating the game through a data network.
 11. The method of claim 1wherein the data network is the Internet.
 12. The method of claim 1wherein after the initial player hand is dealt, further comprising thestep of: determining if the initial hand is a Blackjack; and issuing areward to the player of the initial player hand being a Blackjack on apayout of one to one.
 13. The method of claim 1 wherein after theinitial player hand is dealt, further comprising the step of:determining if the initial hand is a Blackjack; and issuing the rewardto the player of the initial player hand being a Blackjack on a payoutof six to five.
 14. The method of claim 1 wherein after the initialplayer hand is dealt, further comprising the step of: determining if theinitial hand is a Blackjack; and issuing the reward to the player of theinitial player hand being a Blackjack on a payout of three to two. 15.The method of claim 1 wherein if the total value of the cards in thefinal dealer hand is a predetermined designated point total betweentwenty two and twenty six, the dealer pushes the wager instead ofissuing the reward.
 16. A device for conducting a game for a player,comprising: a data processor; a display communicating with said dataprocessor; a wager receiver communicating with said data processor; aninput device communicating with said data processor; a data structurecommunicating with said data processor storing data representing playingcards, a set of house rules, and instructions executable by said dataprocessor for conducting a method, the instructions comprising:receiving a signal from said wager receiver in response to receipt of agame wager from said one or more players; dealing two cards to form aninitial player hand to each of the one or more players; dealing a firstcard to a dealer and a second card to a dealer to form an initial dealerhand, one of the first card or the second card dealt to the dealer beingplaced face up and the other of the first card or the second card dealtto the dealer being placed face down; reviewing the dealer's hand and ifa face up card of the dealer's hand has a value of ten, exposing thevalue of the face down card of the dealer's hand; forming a final playerhand by dealing at least one additional card to said initial player handor standing on said initial player hand according to said conventionalrules of Blackjack; forming a final dealer hand by dealing at least oneadditional card to said initial dealer hand or standing on said initialdealer hand according to said conventional rules of Blackjack; andissuing a reward to said player on the player's game wager if the finalplayer hand outranks the final dealer hand according to saidconventional rules of Blackjack and collecting the player's game wagerif the final dealer hand outranks the final player hand according tosaid conventional rules of Blackjack.
 17. The device of claim 16 whereinsaid data structure stores data representing a modified deck offorty-eight playing cards consisting essentially of four cards each ofAce, deuce, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, Jack, Queen, andKing.
 18. The device of claim 16 wherein said instructions furthercomprise said one or more players opting to surrender cards which weredealt, said one or more players receiving back half or the game wagerand a house receiving the other half of the game wager.
 19. The deviceof claim 16 wherein said instructions further comprise: if said initialplayer hand forms a pair, in response to receiving a split wager equalto the game wager at said wager receiver, splitting said initial playerhand into separate player hands; and in response to receiving a doubledown wager less than or equal to the game wager at said wager receiverafter said initial player hand is dealt, dealing only one additionalplaying card to said player hand.
 20. The device of claim 16 wherein theinstructions include after the initial player hand is dealt, furthercomprising the step of: determining if the initial hand is a Blackjack;and issuing a reward to the player of the initial player hand being aBlackjack on a payout of one to one.
 21. The device of claim 16 whereinthe instructions include after the initial player hand is dealt, furthercomprising the step of: determining if the initial hand is a Blackjack;and issuing the reward to the player of the initial player hand being aBlackjack on a payout a payout of six to five.
 22. The device of claim16 wherein the instructions include after the initial player hand isdealt, further comprising the step of: determining if the initial handis a Blackjack; and issuing the reward to the player of the initialplayer hand being a Blackjack on a payout a payout of three to two. 23.The device of claim 16 wherein if the total value of the cards in thefinal dealer hand is a predetermined designated point total betweentwenty two and twenty six, the dealer pushes the wager instead ofissuing the reward.